GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1897. 329 
5. The time of starting the targets should be unknown to the group 
beforehand. 
6. At night practice the targets should be out of view until they 
are started. 
7. The targets should have as far as possible the appearance, and 
some approach to the dimensions (in freeboard at all events), of an 
actual torpedo-boat. 
8. The range should be a clear one, so that interruptions which 
would not occur in war may be avoided.* 
These requirements may appear at first sight formidable, and difficult 
of attainment. It is hoped, however, to show that the difficulties are 
not so great as they seem. 
Taking into account the very early period of the war at which, as 
we have seen, quick-firing guns will be called into play, there can be 
no doubt that they can be efficiently manned only by permanent 
artillery, either Koyal or local. Militia and Volunteers will probably 
be scarcely mobilized when the first raid takes place, much less will 
they be capable of making the best use of weapons requiring on the 
part of their commander so much smartness, readiness and self- 
reliance, and of the detachments such skill and alacrity. These 
qualities spring from a man’s intimate acquaintance with his comrades, 
and familiarity with his weapon and his own power of using it. They 
can only be acquired and maintained by careful and continuous in¬ 
struction, drill, and practice together of all ranks, both by day and 
night, opportunities for which are necessarily lacking to the auxiliary 
artillery. So far as these guns are concerned therefore we need con¬ 
sider the practice of the regular artillery only. It is necessary to 
insist on this point, as the suggestion has been made that these guns 
at home should be allotted on mobilization to the Volunteers.! This 
would greatly increase the obstacles to carrying out practice under 
service conditions. 
The first and perhaps the greatest difficulty occurs in connection 
with night practice, a requirement of the most urgent importance. 
This would be experienced in the highest degree at precisely those 
stations—large harbours and naval ports—where quick-firing guns are 
of the greatest value in defence. On the other hand, the extremely 
few places where night practice might be found possible would probably 
be in very shallow and unfrequented waters, devoid of all the peculiar 
features of sea and land belonging to ports and harbours, and little 
likely to be approached by actual torpedo-boats. Practice if confined 
to such localities would unavoidably tend to degenerate into mere 
shooting at a target. The benefits to be gained by local knowledge 
of channels and familiarity with the appearance of torpedo boats in 
motion, by day and night, would be in danger of being lost sight of. 
It is therefore proposed that practice should be divided into two 
distinct portions, as follows :— 
(a) Blank practice, to be carried out at actual torpedo-boats, and 
from the guns which would be manned in time of war, at each station 
where quick-firing guns are provided. 
* “ Report of School of Gunnery,” 1896, Part 1, paragraph 25 (e). 
t Proceedings of R.A. Institution, Vol. xxii., No. 7., p. 856. 
